Naked, on the Edge Read Online Free PDF

were tormented then set afire. The fish with no flaws were kept longer, but were set afire as well. The smoke did not rise to the clouds, it was so thick it hung low and made the sky stink with soot and death. The little fish were tormented by the children, and flopped in the buckets, trying to find the air they needed."
    Susanne, by the empty bookshelf, whispered, "Margarette's story was about fish, Joseph. Don't do this to us."
    "And my story is about fish. Haven't you learned the listening lesson? I am telling about fish. This is a little story about people at the beach. People playing and having fun, nothing more, and of the worthless fish they caught."
    Anna stared at Joseph. The badly cut hairs of his head were wild beneath the linked fingers of his hands as he lay on the floor. He looked like a prophet; he looked like a mad lion.
    "No more story," said Susanne.
    "Please," said William.
    "I want to kill her," said Joseph.
    No one answered. Anna lay, listening to her heart, listening for the mockingbird that had grown silent, watching the fine mist of gray gossamer smoke drift through the window over her head.
    Margarette began to sing a nursery rhyme, and Anna faded into sleep.
    The opening door woke them all on cue. They sat abruptly, having learned the lesson of quick attention. Anna's head spun but her eyes were open wide to appear alert. Greta was in another dress, this one green with a White collar. She had brushed her hair up and back, and it was secured in silver. She sat down on her low chair, and the friends scurried to their places in the circle.
    "Good news!" she said.
    The friends waited.
    "My father has found a new friend to join us. He is a little boy, younger than you, Margarette. I had asked my father for a little boy, but my father is a very busy man. But this morning he said he'd found a nice one during the selection, and shall bring him to us tonight after he's been checked over."
    The friends watched and waited. Obviously Greta had forgotten her promise of bringing the meal early.
    "Are you happy?" asked Greta.
    All the friends nodded.
    Joseph's fingers slid upward along his neck, found the ragged ruins of his hair, and began to play with them. Anna glanced at him then looked quickly back at Greta. Joseph's good eye had been hard, bright, and twitching.
    "Today's lesson will be a math lesson," said Greta.
    "I have cards here that I borrowed from my uncle." She pulled white cards from the pocket of her blue dress. "I'll hold up the cards and you will tell me the answer to the problem."
    Anna balled her fists in her lap. She was not good at numbers. If Greta would only give her an easy problem.
    "You," said Greta to William. She held up a card that read "5 + 12."
    "Tell me, what is the answer to this?"
    William rolled his lips in over his teeth. The tick in his cheek was vivid. Then he said, "Seventeen."
    Greta had to check the back of the card, and said, "Yes, good." She put that card down and held up the next. To Susanne she said, "Tell me this answer."
    Susanne looked at the card. It said, "18 – 9”
    "The answer is nine," Susanne said immediately. She was good with math.
    Greta checked. "Fine," she said. Then she looked at Joseph. "Your hair looks nasty."
    Anna looked at Joseph. His hair, where his fingers had clutched and pulled, sat up in pointed strands. Joseph flinched and began to rub it down again.
    "No, no, no, no," said Greta. "I think it needs doing again. I think you've played with it and ruined the cut. I best cut it over."
    Joseph rubbed harder, trying the flatten the spikes against his scalp. The bright twitching of his eye had become a nervous flutter. His mouth opened as if to say, "No," but it closed again then, silently.
    Margarette said, "I can do a problem. Please show me one."
    Greta stood, the cards falling to the sooty floor. She said, "Joseph, come here and I'll do your haircut again."
    Joseph looked from Anna to Greta to Margarette. His teeth began to clap